So far this year, several women in the Big Apple have been victims of violent attacks by strangers while they are walking or in public spaces, so the city government is looking for ways to further educate New Yorkers on ways to stay safe and protected.
This was confirmed on Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams during a press conference in which he stressed that “a single random act of violence is too much” and where he expressed his concern about acts perpetrated by people with mental problems.
“People who cannot care for themselves are harmful to others and one proactive way is to get them care. They need care, they need support, they need to be placed in facilities where they can receive that care until they can take care of themselves,” said the local leader.
“I’m going to talk to our crime prevention officers because maybe we can do some public service announcements and record some videos because we want to prevent this from happening in any way. A random act of violence is just that. It’s a random act, unexpected. Someone comes out of nowhere and just carries out a cruel act against you. And it’s a challenge for law enforcement,” he said.
Adams said, “We want to be proactive in addressing those who have a higher propensity to do so. But I will speak to the commissioner about the possibility of having our crime prevention officers come in to see if we can find that PSAs can be helpful.”
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, senior advisor to the Mayor’s Office, also called on women to protect themselves by using their own resources, such as carrying a whistle to scare off criminals and also attract the attention of passers-by and authorities.
“And one more thing that women can do, they need to take their safety seriously. They can carry a whistle. They can blow a whistle. They can get pepper spray. I think pepper spray is legal. They can use pepper spray to try to defend themselves,” the city official said.
“We also made pamphlets that we gave to women from different communities, telling them different safety tips. And we also had a martial arts team that gave free courses. So maybe we can re-establish that. But there are a lot of things that women can actively do. And there are places online that you can go to look and see how you can protect yourself as a woman,” she said.
The president also spoke about not being able to speak on stage at the Democratic Convention, and did not want to cause too much of a stir.
“When I reached out to the campaign, I said, ‘Give me the task you want me to do. Tell me I can help you.’ And believe me, there are some sharp elbows. A lot of people would like to be on that stage. And, you know, I don’t want to add any more complications to that. You know, how do we take care of what the mayor wanted, the city of New York? It’s not my role. My role is to say, tell us what you need from us as a city. And that’s it, I’m clear about that,” said the Mayor.
“God only knows how many people are calling. You know, I want to talk. I want to talk. I want to talk. I want to talk. Sometimes it’s better to just, you know, be quiet,” he concluded.